Project management and change management are closely related. In fact, I view it more as project “thinking” and change “thinking” that all people involved with business transformation need to embrace.

The behavioral attributes of project management, or “project thinking” transfer well into the arena of business transformation. With increased complexity comes the need for increased discipline. This has been a motto that I have shared for many years with my troubled project engagements. Business transformations mean increased complexity in the form of “more, better, faster, cheaper”. In this type of environment, project thinking becomes a rising star. The ability and (more importantly) willingness to pay attention to all the details and facilitating progress by segmenting (or what I like to refer to as “bucket-izing”) issues, actions, risks, dependencies, and decisions are but two of the key technical skills.

I like this article from CIO.com because it goes beyond the technical skills and provides a good list of leadership skills for the next generation or transformational project manager. Project managers need to have the basic technical skills, and then need to bring the skills outlined in this article to make a difference. If you find yourself operating as a PM within a fairly predictable environment (I am not 100% sure if these exist anymore) then these capabilities might not be so critical. However, if you are in a transformation or chaotic environment, I suggest that this is a very good list of capabilities, and one that we should leverage. Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 for each of these capabilities, then define which ones you want to grow. We all have “flat spots”. Knowing them is half the battle.